MAIVNERS AND CUSTOMS. 



510 



one, that my fall might be from 

 such au immense height, as would 

 put a speedy end to ray suf- 

 fering. 



Before sunrise on the 30th of 

 April, we proceeded towards the 

 hills, and entered a wood, where 

 we stationed ourselves not far 

 from the road. We dared not 

 kindle a fire, though we sliould 

 have found it extremely accept- 

 able, for the rain, which still 

 continued with violence, had 

 soaked our clothes completely 

 through. We lay down close to 

 each other, and covered ourselves 

 over with our sails. In the course 

 of the day, my companions ate 

 some portion of their store of 

 provisions, but I had lost all 

 appetite for food, though I still 

 suffered severely from thirst. 



When night set in we again 

 directed our course towards the 

 shore. In all the villages through 

 which we passed we neither found 

 a good boat nor saw any fish laid 

 out to dry. Either the fishing 

 season had not commenced, or 

 the fish had been removed into 

 houses during the night. We saw 

 several horses in the fields, and 

 endeavoured to catch one, but 

 they were all so extremely wild 

 that we found it impossible. This 

 night we descended down the side 

 of a steep hill, for the purpose of 

 proceeding to the shore; we had, 

 however, scarcely got half way, 

 when we found that we were ad- 

 vancing straight upon a village. 

 In the dark we missed the foot- 

 path, and mistook a heap of straw 

 for a part of the declivity. We 

 had no sooner set our feet upon 

 it than we rolled down, and un- 

 expectedly found ourselves in 

 -front of a house and bain. A dog 



rushed out upon us, but we calmly 

 proceeded on our way, though we 

 were doubtless observed by two 

 men who came out with lanterns. 

 We all sufl'cred severely from 

 thirst, and never passed a brook 

 without taking hearty draughts 

 of water. But immediately after 

 I drank water, I felt m}'self 

 affected with nausea, and the 

 saliva flowed from my mouth. In 

 the course of half an hour, how- 

 ever, I was usually so overcome 

 with thirst, that on hearing the 

 murmuring of a rivulet at a dis- 

 tance, 1 promised myself a 

 speedy relief, and redoubled ray 

 pace in order to reach it quickly, 

 but as soon as I had taken a 

 draught of water the nausea re- 

 turned, and I was tlius alternately 

 a martyr to thirst and sickness, 

 and could eat nothing. 



On the first of May we rested 

 on a declivity, by the side of a 

 rivulet, in a thick wood, near 

 which there was a village built 

 on a sandy point of land. We 

 saw several horsemen and foot 

 passengers cross the stream, on 

 the outside of the wood, and 

 people passing along a road near 

 us. 



We were, therefore, obliged to 

 remain the whole day without 

 fire. At night we again departed, 

 but as we met several men with 

 lanterns, we were obliged to hide 

 ourselves behind the trees until 

 they passed by. On approaching 

 close to a village we heard the 

 hours striking, and, of course, 

 were pretty certain that the place 

 had a guard of soldiers, who, as 

 it was not perfectly dark, might 

 discover us : we, therefore, de- 

 termined to halt. In the mean- 

 time we observed a mare tied to 



a tree, 



